Citation Nr: 25003589
Decision Date: 03/14/25	Archive Date: 03/14/25

DOCKET NO. 18-55 347A
DATE: March 14, 2025

ORDER

Entitlement to service connection for left eye visual problem (left eye condition), secondary to service-connected cerebrovascular accident, is dismissed.

FINDING OF FACT

On November 30, 2023, prior to the January 12, 2024, Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) Legacy decision, the Veteran opted into the Appeals Modernization Act (AMA) review. Thus, the Board's January 2024 Legacy decision was erroneously issued.

CONCLUSION OF LAW

The January 12, 2024, Board Legacy Decision was inconsistent with AMA and is dismissed. 38 U.S.C. § 7103(c); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.2400(c)(2), 3.2500(a)(1), § 3.2601.

REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION

The Veteran served on active duty from September 2001 to September 2005.

This matter is before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board) on appeal from a July 2017 rating decision by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO).

By way of background, in a January 2024 decision, the Board, inter alia, denied the Veteran's service connection claim for left eye condition.

In an October 2024 Order, the Court granted the parties' Joint Motion for Partial Remand (JMPR), and partially vacated the January 2024 Board decision because it found that on November 30, 2023, prior to the January 2024 Board decision, the Veteran submitted a Request for Higher-Level Review (VA Form 20-0996) in response to the November 7, 2023, supplemental statement of the case (SSOC) denying service connection for the left eye condition. 

As the November 7, 2023, SSOC was issued after February 19, 2019, and the Veteran filed for AMA review option in accordance with 38 C.F.R. § 2.500 on a form prescribed by VA within 60 days following the SSOC, it is a valid opt-in to AMA. 38 C.F.R. § 19.2(d)(2)(c)(2). In the January 2024 decision, the Board adjudicated the Veteran's claim in the Legacy system, but it did not address the valid opt-in to the AMA via the timely VA Form 20-0996.

The Court remanded the matter to the Board for readjudication consistent with the JMPR.

The Board will therefore dismiss the Veteran's service connection claim for left eye condition. However, the Board notes that that the Veteran's service connection claim for left eye condition will be addressed on the merits in a future Higher-Level Review rating decision, pursuant to the AMA opt-in.

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For the foregoing reasons, the Veteran's service connection claim for left eye condition is dismissed.

 

 

Marcus N. Fulton

Veterans Law Judge

Board of Veterans' Appeals

Attorney for the Board	Kovacs, Mayer

The Board's decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.